Visible-wavelength two-photon excitation microscopy for fluorescent protein imaging

J Biomed Opt. 2015 Oct;20(10):101202. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.20.10.101202.

Abstract

The simultaneous observation of multiple fluorescent proteins (FPs) by optical microscopy is revealing mechanisms by which proteins and organelles control a variety of cellular functions. Here we show the use of visible-light based two-photon excitation for simultaneously imaging multiple FPs. We demonstrated that multiple fluorescent targets can be concurrently excited by the absorption of two photons from the visible wavelength range and can be applied in multicolor fluorescence imaging. The technique also allows simultaneous single-photon excitation to offer simultaneous excitation of FPs across the entire range of visible wavelengths from a single excitation source. The calculation of point spread functions shows that the visible-wavelength two-photon excitation provides the fundamental improvement of spatial resolution compared to conventional confocal microscopy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / instrumentation*
  • Luminescent Proteins / metabolism*
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence, Multiphoton / instrumentation*
  • Molecular Imaging / instrumentation*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity

Substances

  • Luminescent Proteins